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What is a Sprint or Iteration in Agile Software Development?

A Sprint also known as an Iteration is a small divisible work in a grand development of a software that last anywhere from one to four weeks.

Sprints breaks software product development work into small increments that minimize the amount of up-front planning and design. In Scrum, an Iteration or Sprint typically last for two weeks.

Each Sprint involves cross-functional teams working on all aspects of the software development: specifications, analysis, planning, design, coding, and testing.

Sprints are based on the list of User Stories in the Product Backlog. The items from product backlog are then included in Sprints based on the priority with high priority items included in the early sprint and lower priority items scheduled for later sprints.

At the end of each Sprint a working product is demonstrated to the customer. Sprints reduce risk by showing progress of the software to the customer and by adapting the changes requested by the customer. A Sprint does not add enough functionality to make the software viable for market release as multiple Sprints are required to release a version of the product.

Jagmeet Singh writes about Technology and Business on W3Courses.com. Jagmeet is the owner of Parallel Exchange and developed Phonora Photo Galley software product. In his spare time he enjoys photography and loves to travel.